England: Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), c. 1949

Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966), known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer.

His best-known works include his early satires 'Decline and Fall' (1928) and 'A Handful of Dust' (1934), his novel 'Brideshead Revisited' (1945) and his trilogy of Second World War novels collectively known as 'Sword of Honour' (1952–61). Waugh is widely recognised as one of the great prose stylists of the 20th century.

In 1930 Waugh, representing several newspapers, departed for Abyssinia to cover the coronation of Haile Selassie. He reported the event as "an elaborate propaganda effort" to convince the world that Abyssinia was a civilised nation, concealing the truth that the emperor had achieved power through barbarous means. A subsequent journey through the British East Africa colonies and the Belgian Congo formed the basis of two books; the travelogue 'Remote People' (1931) and the comic novel 'Black Mischief' (1932).

Waugh's next extended trip, in the winter of 1932–33, was to British Guiana (now Guyana) in South America. On arrival in Georgetown, Waugh arranged a river trip by steam launch into the interior. He travelled on via several staging-posts to Boa Vista in Brazil, then took a convoluted overland journey back to Georgetown. His various adventures and encounters found their way into two further books: his travel account 'Ninety-two Days', and the novel 'A Handful of Dust', both published in 1934.

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